A Winn3r is You!: Deep Cover Dragons
by The Talking Absol
Summary: Gex just wanted a normal life of sitting around, watching TV, and eating flies. But no, the Agency had to recruit him to help two dumb dragons and their tasty-looking dragonfly friend out in saving the world. -Contest Over-
1. Unwelcome Visitors

Well, I probably, nay, I _shouldn't_ be doing this, but I can't resist. I love Avvie's contests! Theyr'e too much fun. I probably won't have time to finish most of the rounds, but I will give it my best. I'll have to juggle this, school, BHAT, and the last of the CAT contest entries, but by Gex, I will give it my best.

**A Winn3r is You!: Deep Cover Dragons**

_Entry Round_

Unwelcome Visitors

Gex Gecko was loving life.

Not only did he have all the free cable he could ever watch, but the Secret Agents had also provided him with a lifetime supply of flies. And so, for three years after his last catastrophe with Rez, his arch-nemesis and possible father, he'd done what he loved most- watch TV.

He looked like an everyday green-scaled gecko, but like he'd taken a smaller dose of whatever Godzilla ate, since he was four feet, seven inches tall, and enjoyed every minute of it. Like most geckos, he did not have eyelids, and instead had a thick membrane over his eyes. Most people found it disturbing that he never blinked, but, in turn, he didn't quite understand why everybody else had eyelids when they should have just evolved like him and licked their eyes clean. He had yellow running from his throat to the tip of his purple-striped tail, and yellow also lined his mouth, toes, and fingers like gloves.

Agent Xtra, his last partner/damsel in distress, quite sadly, had been forced to move to the European branch of the Secret Agency. They'd hit it off after their last adventure, but what the Agency said, they got. Oh well; he wasn't going to whine about it too much- it just wasn't his style. He'd decided to retire to a life of relaxation and simplicity, instead of luxury, and gave his mansion to his family, telling Alfred to take care of them like he'd done for Gex. He still visited occasionally, and they wrote, but otherwise he liked the quiet of downtown Central City.

Gex's tongue flicked out to catch a fly he'd let out of one of the many jars he kept them in, zipping it back to stuff it and the fly into his mouth. He smacked his jaws and swallowed it within a few seconds, eyes never leaving the Dr. Phil show.

"But what happens if I love the ice cream?" a very fat lady asked, looking put-out to be told it was bad for her and she should not eat it with every meal.

"I'm sorry Maurice, but you must give it up." Dr. Phil said, patting her on the back as she began to cry hysterically.

Gex burped loudly, rolled his eyes, and turned it to HBO. He smiled as "The Sound of Music" came on, right at the part where Julie Andrews came running up though the field. As she sang, he croaked back, giggling madly, "The hills are aliiive, with a purple fuuunguuus..."

Sighing, he changed it to ABC, hoping they could at least provide some entertainment in the news. After a story about Superman spontaneously disappearing from Metropolis, causing everybody in it to panic and the police to try and keep themselves honest cops- which was an exciting story, granted-, he groaned and got up off his couch to go to the restroom.

As he turned and headed into the elaborate bathroom in the room behind the TV room, his TV buzzed loudly with shrieking static. He stumbled, putting both hands up to the ear holes on either side of his head. He turned, growling under his breath, to glare at the static that now filled his screen. He started towards it, then shrugged and turned back to the bathroom, passing the front door as he did so.

"G-G-G-E-E-E-EXXXX," a voice wavered, and then made itself clear, across the static, "GEEEEEXXXXxx Geeeckoo!"

Gex paused, his mind quickly digging through his memory banks to find out where he'd heard that voice before. He jumped around, glaring at the TV.

"You honestly couldn't try the phone?" he snapped.

"This is urgent," the Secret Agent, now coming across clearly on the screen, stated flatly, then added, "And besides, your phone's broken."

Gex glanced over at his phone, which he now remembered, had in fact been smashed up against the wall when a particularly feisty fly had forced him to jump around his room, trying to catch it. He absentmindedly let his tongue run over his eyes.

"Oh yeah," he said, and then flicked his head back up to the screen, sneering, "Lemme guess...Rez? Again?"

"No, this is much more than that," the Agent said, and held up a fuzzy picture of a satellite, floating freely in space, "This is the Lotus Cannon, developed by a secret organization that, until recently, the United Nations kept their hands off of, because we didn't necessarily consider them a large threat. Now, however, they have the technology...well, they basically have a really big gun."

Gex, while the Agent was talking, had walked up to stare hard at the picture, concentrating hard. Now, he stared back at the Agent on the screen.

"So how do you expect me to help?" Gex quizzed the Agent, scowling with the thought this was all for nothing, and now he both had to go the the bathroom and he was missing the TV.

"You've learned skills no other Agent has or will have while in the Media Dimension, and we can use them against this agency-" the Agent started, but Gex was already reaching for the remote, "Hey! Hey! Don't change the channel! Dammit, Gex-"

"Too late, not interested," Gex grumbled, flicking the channel button up and tuning in to Disney. Not that he cared for the dancing mouse on the screen, but he didn't want to listen to any more of whatever the Secret Agency had to say. He then finally turned and walked into the restroom, slamming the door behind him.

The Agent re-appeared on-screen, smirking deviously. "That's what we'd thought you'd say," he stated to no one in particular, "That's why we put tracking devices in that fly you just ate."

Gex didn't hear, he was busy finishing his business, but he did hear the front door burst open, and several sets of feet file into his house. He thrust the door open, starting to shout, but all four Agents tackled him, bringing him to the ground. In the midst of the struggle, Gex flung one Agent off with his powerful tail, sending him crashing into the other room, and his tongue had wrapped itself around another Agent's head to throw him off, screaming about the germs. One Agent, just as he retracted his tongue to flick it out at the other two, pulled out a large baton and whacked Gex right between his large eyes. Said organs rolled up and back, and his tongue flopped uselessly to the ground. He was out like a firefly.

…**::Meanwhile, thousands of worlds away::...**

"Last one there's a rotten egg!"

The first one charging up the grassy hill was a purple dragon, known as Spyro, and his arrowhead tail, segmented belly (which went from under his chin to the tip of his tail), back-facing horns, and the spikes along his back gleamed a goldish-yellow. He had thick, muscular brows, and from his back extended orange, bat-like wings, which flopped around as he ran on all four legs. He had a strong, set jaw, which was filled with sharp teeth, hidden by his lips.

The dragon following him closely was a black dragon, known as Cynder, but she was also covered in dark silver tattoos. Two sets of silver horns extended from both the top and sides of her head, with two very small horns extending from the sides of her chin. Her head was triangular, unlike Spyro's block-shaped one, and also contained an overbite. Her segmented belly, which also ran from her throat to her tail, and inside of her wings were a pink-purple, and her claws, including the ones on the tops of her wings, and tail were sharper and shone like metal. Around her neck, tail, and front two feet were matching metal bracelets that clinked as she ran.

Behind both dragons was a glowing ball of light, which was in fact their traveling companion, and Spyro's adopted brother, Sparx the yellow dragonfly. He looked like an everyday dragonfly on their planet the difference between his kind and the average human-based Earth ones being: he had large eyes with blue pupils, a wide mouth, and hands with three fingers that were attached like normal body parts to his chest. Other than that, he had four clear wings, a long, thin body, and two large antennae sticking out of his head.

Spyro charged alongside Cynder, the glowing body of Sparx steadily falling behind the two racing dragons. They charged up a hill, causing several sheep to panic and scatter as the three flew through their herd.

"Hurry up, Sparx," Spyro cried out, head lowered as he continued to run, "Or you're gunna get left behind!"

"Blah...blah...blah..." Sparx panted, moving his wings as quickly as possible. Finally, he caught up enough to grab onto Spyro's jostling tail, and cling for dear life as he received a free, albeit unknown to the driver, ride to their destination.

Cynder quickly pulled ahead as the trail they were following narrowed to a one-dragon path, but she struggled to keep the pace as the trail worked its way uphill and over rugged terrain. It was usually just a goat path, but all three knew it lead to a special place. A crystal-clear brook ran alongside most of the path, and all kinds of plant growth followed it.

All three appreciated the beauty of it, but right now they were rather preoccupied, especially once the trail widened again and Spyro quickly charged ahead of Cynder. She glanced back for Sparx, and saw him clinging to Spyro's tail. Sparx waved, and then put a finger up to pursed lips, motioning for silence. Cynder rolled her eyes and huffed, then put her head down and continued to charge.

After a few more minutes, the end of the trail came into view, and both dragons sped up to try and beat each other. Within the last few feet, Sparx let go of Spyro's tail and buzzed quickly ahead of both dragons, beating them to the imaginary finish line.

He cheered as they stopped and collapsed, panting hard.

"Sparx, uno; Dragons, zero!" He made one of his small hands into an o-shape, and held it up in front of Spyro's face. The purple dragon continued to pant, but sighed as Sparx shoved his loss in his face. Cynder, on the other hand, began to laugh.

"Some win!" she panted, rolling onto her belly, "You cheating dragonfly!"

While Spyro stared strangely at Cynder, Sparx gasped and held a hand up to his heart in offense, saying in a funny accent, "You accuse me of cheating, dear lady dragon? I say, what evidence do you have?"

She rolled her eyes again, and began to calm her breathing as Spryo stood up on shaky legs. He stumbled for a second, but then regained his footing and started to walk slowly towards their destination. Cynder stood up too, and followed him.

"That's what I thought," Sparx said haughtily, crossing his arms. Cynder flicked him with her tail, causing him to scream and get flung to the ground.

"Well, at least we're here," Spyro said, turning around from his spot to glance at whatever trouble Sparx had gotten himself into.

They now stood on a cliff, fifty feet above a roaring ocean. Ahead of them gleamed the last rays of the setting sun, which bounced off the waves in red, orange, and bright yellow, and reflected upon the sky in blues and purples.

"It's beautiful..." Cynder commented after several moments of silence.

"Not even a year after _saving the __world_," Sparx grumbled, "And all you guys wanna do is run around and watch the sunset."

Cynder whipped her head around to stare, bemused, at him, "If you're bored, you can probably go back home." Sparx went quiet after that, choosing to mumble to himself.

"I'm _glad_ to have a normal life again...or for once," Spyro started, then remembered he'd thought he was a dragonfly the first few years of his life...Not exactly a normal, baby dragon "life."

"Me too," Cynder said, quiet now, nuzzling her head into Spyro's. He rested his chin on her forehead, taking a deep breath and letting out, feeling the last edges of the war slip from his heart.

And then destiny struck in the form of an asteroid, which appeared out of thin air and hurtled straight into the ground behind them. All three leapt around, Cynder and Spyro lowering their heads in defensive positions while Sparx flew to hide behind both of them. The ground shook for several seconds, but then stopped as the dust began to clear.

Spyro began to slowly crawl towards it, but Cynder and Sparx stood their ground.

"Spyro! Wait!" Cynder hissed, "We don't even know what-"

Both dragons jumped back as the asteroid spat out steam, and the top of it opened up. Sparx shrieked, and flew over the cliff to hide behind it.

"I can answer that," a creature stepped out of the asteroid, and then cursed loudly as he realized it was really hot from going that fast from wherever it had come from.

Spyro and Cynder took several more steps back, realizing this creature was several feet taller than them, and stood up on its back legs, like Hunter. As a matter of fact, it looked a lot like him, only it didn't have large ears or a tail, it was peach-colored, and it only had fur on top of its round, wrinkly head and above its eyes. It was dressed in all black, and had the paws of an ape, and had shiny, hard feet. It adjusted its clothing, and then looked down at them.

"Hm. You're a lot smaller in person," he said, staring hard at them.

"What are you?" Cynder asked slowly.

"Ah, of course; how ignorant of me," he said, and then dropped down to his knees to be around their level of sight, "I'm a human. I know you've never heard of my species, but we've been looking a long time for your kind."

Spyro and Cynder glanced at each other, and slowly relaxed.

"Why would you be looking for us?" Spyro asked, concern etched across his face.

"We need your help," the human said, blinking steadily, "Our planet is in danger from both our own kind, and many other forces. We've been looking for worthy heroes to help our cause, and we have satellites that pick up on the level of heroism spread all over the galaxy. Our equipment only recently spotted this planet, and you two are perfect for a team we are assembling."

"Is it Malefor? Has he regenerated on your planet?" Spyro asked, now worried.

The human cocked his head, looking confused. Before he spoke, Cynder interrupted.

"I doubt it, Spyro. If he were going to manifest himself, he'd do it here, and we'd know."

Spyro nodded, and then turned back to the human.

"What's your name?" Spyro asked.

"Oh how rude!" he chuckled, "My name is Agent R."

"Alright, Agent R," Spyro confirmed as Sparx, seeing all was safe, flew back up and behind Cynder, "But how do you expect _us_ to help? We don't know anything about your planet or your kind, or these forces that you speak of."

"Yeah!" Cynder said, furrowing her brow, "We'd be clueless!"

"Not to mention we'd be away from our _own_ planet," Sparx added.

"Sadly, there is no time. You must make your decision now, and we will fill in the details as best we can later. Not only that," Agent R smiled, "But you'd be partnered with a being that is a lot like you, but he's a native."

"Another dragon?" All three asked at the same time.

"Err..." The Agent looked sheepish, "Kinda. He doesn't breathe fire, per se, but he's...a relative. He will tell you everything you need to know. Now," he said, eyes shifting between them, "Are you going to help us or not?"

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. Cynder, seeing the look in Spyro's eyes, quickly spoke up.

"Spyro, we might not come back," she said softly.

"There is that possibility," Agent R said gently, looking genuinely concerned, "But we will do everything in our power to ensure you get back home safely. Not only that, but our agent that is helping you will protect you too."

"And you can ensure our home planet will be kept out of this?" Spyro asked harshly.

"Yes. Nobody knows I'm here, and we've jammed all signals directing towards your home planet."

Spyro looked at Cynder, then at Sparx, then at the ground, thinking hard. After a few moments, he swung his head up the speak to the human.

"Alright, I'll do it," he turned to Cynder and Sparx again, "Are you two in this with me?"

"Wherever you go, I go," Cynder said, stepping forward.

Both dragons turned to stare at Sparx, who made several noises of annoyance before saying, "Alright. I guess I'm in this by default too."

…**::Hours Later, United Nations Secret Agency, Undisclosed Location::...**

"Good evening Agent Gex," a voice said around Gex's pounding head. The gecko groaned loudly, reaching a paw up to rub it tenderly while he tried to concentrate on where he might be. Reality finally hit him several seconds later, and he shot up, eyes opening wide, before his headache came in nauseous waves, and he shrank again, eyes narrowed in pain once more.

"Ohhh, where am I?" he asked painfully, "I mean really, where?" He knew he was on some kind of table, in a dark room lit by a single light above him, but other than that, he didn't have a clear idea, although he had a nasty suspicion.

"That information will be undisclosed," the voice said, and Gex creaked one eye up to glare at the Agent who had so rudely interrupted his TV earlier.

"When I can move freely again," Gex snarled, "I'm gunna whack your legs off."

The Agent smirked, and held up a large black case. "I think _this_ will change your mind."

"Money?" Gex spat, rolling both eyes at the Agent, "No thanks. You guys already provided me with cable and food; that's all I need."

"It's not money," the Agent said calmly, laying it on the table and backing off for Gex to inspect it. Gex stared quizzically at him, and then reached over to pop it open. When it did, his eyes went wide.

"You...you blew up my house!" Gex cried out, jaw dropped at the pictures of the wreckage where his house had previously stood, "Why'd you blow up my _house_? Mi casa? Mi hacienda?"

"The Secret Agency will readily do anything for world peace; surely, Gex, you understand that," the Agent said, "We wanted your full participation. Once your mission is fulfilled, we'll get you a new one, and a new 2000-inch TV."

"You could have just offered _that_," Gex said slyly, "I may have been stubborn about it, but I would have gone with it. Lay off my stuff." Now his voice had an edge to it.

"Alright. I'm glad we have your participation," the Agent turned and began to walk towards the single door on the other side of the room, "And you'll have partners," he said, and Gex paused, staring wide-eyed after him.

"You mean Agent Xtra?" he asked eagerly.

"Of course not, she's busy dealing with her own business," the Agent said, opening the door and glancing backwards, "Oh, and your suit's in the case." With that, he left and slammed the door.

Gex stared after him for several minutes, before he shook himself, stared at the pictures for another few seconds, and then dug through them to pull out a shiny, snappy black suit, complete with bow tie and white undershirt.

He left the room and briefcase, although he put everything but the suit back in the case and snapped it shut, and as he walked down a long, steel hallway, he finished buttoning up his suit. He couldn't say he was eager for this mission, especially since they'd blown up his house, but he knew once it was over, he'd be back on his couch, watching TV and eating flies again. He was even less eager to meet his new partners.

In the meantime, he could save the world...again.

The only other easy exit was the door at the end of the hallway, which, as he neared it, he could hear voices coming from. He paused right beside it, leaning in to listen to the conversation. He was no peeper, nor did he particularly like listening in to people's lives, but when he deemed it necessary...

"...be here any minute, I just informed him..." That was the Agent's voice.

"...still don't know about this..." another, high-pitched voice came through the door.

"...hang on..." a female voice now, and before Gex realized what she meant, a large shadow came up under the door and under his feet. He yelped as two sets of very sharp claws wrapped their way around his ankles, and he heard a hiss come from the darkness.

The door was flung open just as he fell back, preparing to...to...to do _something_, but another Agent stepped out to quickly reach down and lift him up.

"Cynder! Please! _This_ is Gex," the Agent said, tugging back on the claws surrounding Gex's ankles. They let him go, and Gex was lifted by his collar into the room. Dumped unceremoniously on the floor, he let out a grunt and straightened his suit, staring down the shadow as it moved back into the room and beyond him. He turned with it, and his eyes focused on the other creatures in the room.

"Hey, hey!" Gex spat, glancing between the Agents and the one- no, two! (one popped up out of the shadow ball that had grabbed him)- dragons in the room, alongside a glowing dragonfly. Gex's _extended_ knowledge of dragons was they were dumb, fire-breathing pains-in-the-but, "You didn't say _nothin'_ about dragons!"

"Wh-what?" all three companions sputtered.

"Do you have a problem with your partners?" the Agent from his house asked.

"Yes!" Gex said bitterly. The three dragon-esque partners looked rather put out.

"Too damn bad," the Agent said, smirking, "They're your partners. This," he motioned to the purple one, "Is Spyro. This," he waved his hand at the black one, "Is Cynder, and I believe you might have already been...acquainted," he smiled, then continued, waving at the dragonfly, "and this is Sparx. They're quite the revered heroes where they come from, Gex, and we expect you to introduce them to our culture here on Earth One."

"Over my dead body," Gex crossed his arms, turning his head away in defiance.

"Please, eh, Gex," 'Spyro' said, folding his wings, "We only want to help."

"Yeah, and I only want to go back home," Gex grumbled, "But you don't see me clicking my heels together."

"You don't have a choice; you're one of the few teams we have going out there," the new Agent said from behind Gex, closing the door as he walked in.

"Hn," Gex grunted, letting his eyes roll over the other members of his team, "Fine. But don't expect me to like it."

"We don't." The Agents smiled at their little joke.

…**::Metropolis, Several Hours Later::...**

As the ship that had dropped them off in Metropolis flew away into the ocean, Gex straightened his suit and tried not to think about the fact he had been paired with two dragons and their flying companion, who looked like a very appetizing meal...

"Well, where do we start?" Spyro asked, looking around at the wreckage.

All four looked around, but what caught their eye was a large, black tower in the middle of the city.

"There," all four said.

"It's tail time!" Gex said, grinning wide.

"...That's...not going to be our catchphrase, is it?" Cynder asked cautiously.

"Because that's the stupidest-" Sparx started.

"No, it's _my_ catchphrase," Gex snapped.

"-idea to take your catchphrase!" Sparx finished quickly, "We need our own- how about attack of the alien dragons! And their sidekick gecko!"

Gex turned his head to stare hard at Sparx. Sparx, seeing his mistake in calling Gex a "sidekick," paused, holding his hands up.

"Okay, okay! Leader gecko! Whatever you say please-don't-eat-me!"

Gex turned back and began walking towards the spire, the two dragons following close on either side. Sparx buzzed, grumbled something about not getting enough respect, and quickly followed them into the dark street.

END ENTRY ROUND

The "honest cops" thing is a reference from Two-Face: Year One, where a cop from Metropolis admits she an the others had to be good, because Superman would always hear/see them if they tried anything...not honest. I felt uncomfortable going with what avvie said, where the "cops had to remember how to do their jobs," because...well...I always felt the cops knew how to do their jobs, they just liked the help of Superman. Or, at least, most of them. It's kinda a Spiderman/New York (or wherever the fudge he lives...I don't care) relationship. Also have issues with it 'cause both of my parents work(ed) for law enforcement. :/

And I would really, really request that people keep the "leave Spyro's planet alone" thing canon through this thing, unless you desperately want him to go berserker-dark-fury-mode on your character's ass.

Also, the reason I requested both versions of Spyro is in hopes that, if I do well in the tournament, I'll have Spyro evolve into more of his original version, but keep a lot of traits from the new one.

Also, I totally forgot about geckos not blinking, and while I think Gex blinks in the game, it's most likely more a matter of Did Not Do the Research on the programmers part. If he doesn't blink, then kudos to them. :) In any case, if I left any part in about him closing his eyes, just let me know so I can fix it.

Also, Gex can be pretty stubborn. And since he already had all the food and TV he wanted, the Agency just decided to blow up his old one (prevent him from going back home), and offer him a new one. Yeah, they're jerks.

Also, the Agency works for United Nations; they're just a tiny branch, and more like puppets.

Derp. Um, I think that's it. Speeeling mistkaes, grammer, etc, let me know, along with anything you feel isn't right. I don't think I quite got Gex right, but he's so much easier to work with when he's in the Media Dimension, which he won't be much of, if at all, in this series.

Cynder, Sparx, Spyro are all owned by...hot damn, he keeps changing hands. I think it's still Sierra, though.

Gex is owned by Midway and Crystal Dynamics, along with everybody else except Superman/Central City/Metropolis, all of which are owned by DC Comics.

Tournament and idea belong to Avatarjk137! La-de-da-de-da~

INSERT JUDGE'S APPROVAL TO CONTINUE


	2. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Human World

_It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Human World_

**Round One: A Winn3r is You!**

_Vs. Team RED from Team Fortress 2_

Gex now understood why everybody had left Metropolis.

The place was a _mess._

With Superman gone and the cops attempting to play him, the lower, seedier parts of the city had literally gone to Hell and back, or so it appeared. Gex wouldn't have been surprised if they'd encountered some demons wielding pitchforks, but, to his surprise, the place seemed to be deserted right now.

Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder took their time trotting along, feeling a growing sense of dread with every step they took further into the city. It didn't help that nobody was talking, especially their guide, Gex, and instead silence filled their ears, their heads full with thoughts.

"What...happened?" Spyro finally asked.

"As far as I can tell," Gex retorted, glancing back, "Superman left."

"Who's he?"

"Just your run-of-the-mill superhero, you know, flying, laser eyes, ehhh..." Gex saw the confused look on his companions' faces, so he gave up explaining.

"Superhero?" Spyro questioned, interest now piqued.

"Yeah, like you guys," Gex shrugged, "Only human."

"Gex," Cynder said, looking up at said gecko, "Could you please give us some facts about, uh, humans? We've never even been off our own planet."

"Well, they're fur-less, scale-less, skin bags who treat each other badly and destroy their own planet," Gex tilted his head and licked his eyes, "And then proceed to place the blame on somebody else."

Cynder and Spyro both stopped, letting the information sink in.

"You mean, they purposely destroy their own planet? For what?" Spyro demanded, looking shocked.

Gex stopped, saw their faces, and sighed. "For cities like this one. They multiply as fast as gnats, only they're a lot more annoying and too big to eat. And okay, I'll admit, not all of them are bad, but most of the ones you're gunna meet here aren't exactly at the top of Santa's list."

"Who's Santa?" Spyro now looked even more confused.

"Nevermind." Gex dropped his head to place it in his sticky palm, and then heard the familiar crackle of a TV set coming on. He whipped his head to stare at the last, broken TV inside a store, which sat on its sad little pedestal inside the window. He trotted over, cocking his head as the fuzzy image of one of the Agents came onto the screen. Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx followed him, but gave him at least a foot of space.

"GGGG-Gex!" the Agent said, finally coming into slight focus.

"Ohh, you didn't tell me I could use the Media Dimension!" Gex moaned, placing his paws on either side of his head.

"You can't," the Agent snapped, and then recomposed himself, "This is simply how we will communicate, whenever possible. Now, your first set of opponents is over at the paintball grounds, located only a few blocks-"

"Wait! Waitwaitwait," Gex stammered, holding his paws up, "Our..._first_...opponents? What is this- a fighting tournament?"

"Y-y-y-yes!" the Agent fuzzed out, and then the image became sharp once more, "Man that's annoying. Anyway, yes, this is a fighting tournament, not some hunt-down-the-people thing."

"A fighting tournament?" Spyro turned to Cynder, "Just like when we faced those Grublins! Right after we woke up from the crystal..."

"Yes! I remember now!" Cynder turned to the Agent, "How many are we facing? Do you know?"

"Yes, only three members from each team are allowed in. We don't know who they'll send in, but here's the info we have of their team so far. All of them are separated into three groups consisting of three members. The first ones are their main offensive members..."

Immediately, three pictures filled the screen. The four members studied them, scrutinizing their every feature. The first picture, a buzz-cut younger man with a baseball cap, was illuminated, and the Agent narrated over his picture.

"We don't know their real names, but we know the code names they go by. This here is 'Scout,' a baseball-loving, fast little bastard."

"What's baseball?" Spyro asked.

"I'll tell you later," Gex said, hoping this kind of questioning wouldn't continue.

"And that other word, 'bas-'" Cynder started.

"You don't need to know that!" Gex said quickly, glancing worriedly at Cynder before turning back to glare at the screen, as if hoping the Agent could see it.

"Next up," the Agent said, ignoring all of them and illuminating the next picture of a stout man with the majority of his face covered by a helmet, "Is the 'Soldier.' We haven't found any records of him being in any kind of national service, but I wouldn't mention that to him if I were you."

Spyro and Cynder were going to ask more questions, but they both glanced at Gex, saw his determined and concentrated face, and decided against it. Sparx, however, naïve of the world around him, went on with his own questions.

"Then why is he called the Soldier?"

There was a short silence in which Gex turned to give a squinty-eyed glare to the dragonfly.

"...because he likes to fight?" the Agent said, his voice rising to a question. The next picture, one of a man in a suit with a gas-mask on, was highlighted, and the Agent continued, "Please, hold all questions until afterward. Anyway, last in this section is the 'Pyro,' a...woman, no- uh, man? In any case, this...person...obviously uses a flamethrower, and will not hesitate to burn everything in their path down."

Another set of pictures came up, and the Agent went on over the framed picture of a black man with an eyepatch, "Next up is their set of defensive members. This here is their 'Demoman,' a man who likes explosives. This man," the next picture, a big, burly man with beady eyes, was highlighted, "is the 'Heavy'. He's a tank all by himself, but he's slow and not the sharpest tool in the box. The final member of this section is the 'Engineer,'" the final picture was illuminated, this time of a man in sunglasses, a yellow hard hat, and a pair of overalls, "He's a lot more easy-going than the rest of the team, but his technical skills are unmatched."

"The final set of members are their support group. We doubt they'll throw these three into the fray, since the first round is pretty much close-up combat, but we don't know for sure. First up is the 'Medic,' a sadistic doctor with conspicuous methods and a lot of needles," the Agent narrated over the picture of a man with glasses and a very evil look in his eyes, then moved on to a man with light sunglasses and a cowboy hat with one side tilted up, "This here is the 'Sniper,' and he's very good at his namesake. Finally," the last picture was illuminated; a fuzzy picture of what appeared to be a man with a sock with cut-out holes on his head, "We have the 'Spy,' who can look like anyone and is very deadly with his knife."

Gex felt his blood run colder than normal as the Agent finished up his descriptions. They were all evidently bloodthirsty psychos, if the names and descriptions were right. He really feared for his, and while he wouldn't admit it _aloud_, for his companions' lives.

The Agent's face came back on the screen, pushing the portraits out of sight. "Your first round is three blocks north, and two blocks east from here. Your round starts in twenty minutes. We wish you luck! Make the Agency proud!" With that, he saluted them and fuzzed out, leaving a static TV screen.

"Wait!" Spyro started, but it was too late. Their questions would not be answered as the Agent had promised.

After a moment of relative silence, Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx all turned to Gex, who, upon seeing them stare up at him with such expectant eyes, shifted uncomfortably and licked his eyes.

"Well," Gex finally said, "let's get going." He turned to walk in the directions the Agent had given him.

"Ah! Gex!" Spyro called, catching up to the gecko quickly and trotting alongside him, Cynder following and going to his other side, Sparx close behind, "We still have some questions."

"Like?"

"Well, um," Spyro furrowed his thick brows, concentrating, trying to move through all the puzzling information in his head, "Like what's a Sniper? Or needles? Or an engineer? Or..." he trailed off.

Gex groaned, despite his best efforts to stop it, and lowered his head, taking in a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll explain everything as best I can in the short time we have, but I can't guarantee you'll still understand everything..."

…**::Team RED base, Metropolis::...**

"But _I'm_ the fastest!" the Scout shouted to the rest of his team, his Boston accent whistling through his words, "Just lemme be 'da 'dird membah, pleeeeease! I'll show ya! I'll finish 'em off in seconds flat! I'm a force-a nature, man! Didn't ya hea' me?"

"Yeah yeah," The Soldier spat, adjusting his helmet, "We heard ya the first hundred times, ya overgrown brat."

"I agree vis zee boy," the Medic said calmly, glasses flashing, "If ve vish to move on to furzer rounds, ones vich involve all of us vurking togezer, ve need to move past zis first round quickly."

"...Strewth, I dunno 'bout the rest of you," the Sniper said, looking around, "But I sure as 'ell didn't understand a word 'e said."

"Maybe if you had a few sectionz of your brain cut out you-" the Medic started, but the Engineer interrupted him.

"Look, we have no idea who are first opponents are," he started, putting both hands up, "so I say we go with the guys we know can finish this off-" he glanced at the Soldier and the Demoman accusingly, "Without too much of a mess."

"Hey, just because we can't kill the fuckers doesn't mean we can't- we can't, uh, incapaticitate them." the Soldier growled.

There was a long silence.

"Did ya mean incapa-" the Scout mumbled, scratching his head.

"You know what I meant!"

"Anyway, I say we use the Scout-"

"Yes!" Said man shot up and pumped his fists in celebration.

"-yeaaah, you got some control problems, son, but we'll deal with those later." The Engineer shook his head before continuing, "The Heavy, in case they got somethin' Scout can't take down fast, and the Spy."

"Why me?" the Spy asked casually from his corner, flicking his knife through the air. The Engineer got the feeling the man already knew, but went on anyway.

"Look, this first round, we got two guys on the ground, and one guy up on a platform. I figure that, if all goes like I'm thinkin' it should, Heavy and Scout'll take down at least one of the guys on the ground, while the Spy takes care 'a the guy on the platform. Then, when it's just the last guy, probably their strongest, the Spy jumps down, disguised as their teammate, and take the guy out while his back is turned! It's perfect!" the Engineer slapped his hand down on his knee, smiling like he'd just won the lottery.

The Soldier looked put out to not be included, but the rest of the team nodded. It _was_ a good plan.

"But vhat if somezing _does_ go vrong?" the Medic asked, arcing an eyebrow.

"That's where the Sniper comes in," the Engineer said, the gears in his head literally turning, "He'll go off and hide somewhere that the judges can't see, and if somethin' '_does_ _go v-rong'_," he made a poor effort to sarcastically imitate the Medic, "we can just say it was a stray bullet from a gang fight or somethin'."

"Aaaalright!" the Scout said enthusiastically, "Let's do 'dis!"

The Scout pumped his fists, and then quickly darted out of the base, running over to their side of the entrance to the paintball grounds. He took his trusty metal bat out of his belt, swinging it around in his hands, whistling and waiting impatiently for the rest of his team to make their way out of the portable base.

"'Dis is gunna be fun."

Of course, that was before the Scout saw his opponents. He reached for the door, but curiosity got the better of him and he glanced through the plexiglass and mesh fence to take a look at his opponents.

"Uhh," he said, and slowly reached back with his bat to knock on the Engineer's hardhat. The Engineer growled and grabbed the bat, trying (unsuccessfully; the only thing the Scout held on to harder was his family jewels) to yank it out of the Scout's hands.

"What?"

"Look!" Everybody followed the Scout's gaze, and their jaws dropped.

"Holy Hitler!" the Medic said, fixing his glasses on his nose, "I saught zhey only exzisted in storybooks!"

"Take a lookie at that lizard!" the Soldier gawked, "It's practically the size-a Scout!"

"'Danks ya jackass!" The Scout promptly flipped off the laughing Soldier.

"I can turn into any human," The Spy said, shaking his head, "But animals, especially _mythical creatures_, are beyond me."

"Alrigh'," the Engineer admitted, "Change 'a plans. Hey! You!" he pointed to the Pyro, who looked up from staring at a temptingly dry piece of grass, "Torch those dragons. Think you can do it?"

"Mmmmpph! Mmmph-mpph!" the Pyro exclaimed, lifting his flamethrower into the air.

"Great," the Engineer said, nodding, "Now we're good."

"Make us proud, men!" The Soldier saluted the three members, who filed in carefully through the double doors and into the field.

…**::Metropolis Paintball Grounds, Team Spyro's Side::...**

"Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry..." Gex whispered nervously, jumping up and down, trying not to notice the other team staring at them.

"It looks like they're going in," Spyro pointed out, feeling uneasy. He still wasn't quite sure what to make of humans, although he'd faced larger opponents. The big man, in fact, reminded him of some Trolls he'd faces during the war with Malefor...Those fists had _hurt_.

"Don't be afraid, Gex," Cynder said softly, attempting to comfort the gecko.

Gex immediately jumped up and became still, huffing, "I'm not afraid. Who said I was afraid? Do I look afraid to you?"

"Says mister tail-between-his-legs." Sparx mumbled.

Gex whipped his head around to check his tail, then remembered it couldn't possibly bend that way. Still.

He glared up at Sparx with narrowed eyes, "The moment these two aren't around," he snarled, motioning to Spyro and Cynder, "You're fodder."

The two dragons leapt between Sparx, who hid behind them, and Gex, lowering their heads in defense.

"Look, we know you aren't happy about this," Spyro growled as calmly as possible, "But we've got to make this team work, for the safety of your world."

"Yes, so please stop the threats and sarcasm; it's only going to drive us further apart," Cynder raised her head, nodding towards the other team, "And that's the last thing we need if we're going up against humans like these."

However much Gex hated to admit it, the two dragons were right. He gave a curt sigh, and turned to open the door.

"The first two teams have entered the grounds! All other teams and extra members please step away!" A booming voice shot over the intercom hovering over the grounds, making the team of reptiles jump slightly, "First Round, Team Spyro versus Team RED! In case your sponsors are idiots, which we must suspect they all are if they let the likes of you into this, here are the rules: no killing, seriously injuring, or otherwise blowing your opponent up into little bits. Two members from each team must stay on the ground at all times. You smut knock out at least one of your opponents and-or get the other one to surrender. One member from each team must be on the platform, and that member can throw paintball guns which are located on the platform down to their teammates, or opponents, we don't care. The member on the platform must get the other to surrender or leave the platform. You have ninety minutes, starting...NOW!"

"They named us 'Team Spyro'?" Gex raised his head, bemoaning his fate.

"There's no time to worry about that!" Spyro stated, glancing between his two teammates, "Who are they putting up on the platform?"

Because the ladders had been removed, the teams had to resort to their own skills to get their third member up onto the platform. Of the rest of the teams throughout the day, the Heavy had, for once, the most creative idea.

"Hey, how're we gunna-" the Scout started, and then stepped back as the Heavy advanced upon the Pyro, whose escape plan only lasted two steps before the big Russian grabbed his pack and lifted the Pyro into the air.

"Up you go!" the Heavy said simply, throwing the Pyro up and over, causing a muffled scream to erupt from the depths of the mask.

The Pyro landed hard, as even her currently-limited equipment was heavy, and the boards groaned under his sudden landing.

"Mmmph mmmmph..." the Pyro grumbled, struggling to get to his feet.

"That's the...uh..." Spyro started, before the Pyro leapt around and shot a short burst of flame down at the Heavy in angry retaliation, which resulted in the Heavy to wave his thick fists, which, due to the expensive nature of his usual arsenal, were quite sadly devoid of his favorite guns. That did not mean his fists weren't intimidating all by themselves, however.

"The Pyro," Gex finished, then nodded to Spyro, "How about you breath a little real fire down his shorts and get him to run off the platform?"

"That seems cruel."

"Yeah, well, life is."

"You're lifting our spirits so well." Cynder commented, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, just...one of you get up there! Go! Fly, or something," Gex waved his paws.

Cynder turned to face Spyro, saying quietly, "I'll take care of the guy on the platform. You're a lot physically stronger than me, but you'll have to work with Gex to bring the giant down."

"Got it," Spyro nodded, then asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Cynder smiled, "Don't worry about me," With that, she smirked and, flapping her wings rapidly, clamored up to the platform. From there, she looked down at both her teammates and said, "If anything goes wrong, I'm coming down there."

Spyro and Gex nodded once, and then looked at each other, as if briefly sizing the other's abilities up, and then both turned to their opponents, who still looked rather shocked to be put up against, to them, such unusual creatures.

"I do not like those flying lizards," the Heavy said, blinking slowly, "Lizards should not fly."

"I gotcha on 'dat, buddy," the Scout said, holding the handle of the bat in both hands, "Let's make sure 'dey stay grounded, 'kay?"

"Okay," came the rumble from the big man.

"The little guys fast, remember," Gex said to Spyro, "And the big guy will be harder to take down."

"If you can distract the Heavy, I'll take down the Scout," Spyro said, and then saw the two humans start to move toward them, both of them screaming a barbaric, insane warcry, "Okay? Go!"

"Wait, what?" Gex started, but Spyro charged forward, head lowered, straight at the Scout. Gex, in the meantime, quickly realized what had transpired and, seeing a man roughly ten times his size charging at him, screamed like a little girl and ran away, the Heavy in lumbering pursuit.

The Scout was already at the large sandpit that cut diagnosable across the grounds, and as he leapt across, he began to realize his current opponent wasn't running away. The moment his feet touched the other side, in fact, the little purple dragon had already leapt into the air and did a flip, bringing his bladed tail down upon the Scout's head. It hurt like _hell_.

The Scout stumbled, yelling in pain, dropping one hand from his clenched bat to reach up and gingerly rub his head.

"Fuck, man," he grumbled, turning to watch as the dragon landed a few feet behind him, still facing him with determined eyes, "You...are _so_ dead!"

Spyro didn't really understand what his opponent said, but he knew to dodge when the Scout leapt back across the sandpit, swinging his metal- _what was the word Gex used? Oh yes_- bat wildly. He waited, and then rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the Scout's swing. He quickly came to his feet, and then pushed himself forward, headbutting the back of the Scout's knees. The Scout cried out loudly, falling to the ground, and then put the bat in his right hand and swung backwards. Spyro saw it coming, and managed to move back in enough time to miss most of it, but the edge of the bat connected with his snout, sending his mind into a whirlwind of pain and loss of senses. He stumbled backwards, blood gushing from one nostril, the eye from the same side closing up in pain. He shook his head, and then reached one paw up to gently dab at his nose.

"'Dat'll teach ya, ya overgrown lizard!" the Scout shouted, leaping back to his feet and turning around. He put the bat back in both of his hands, raising it up high to bring it down on Spyro's head, "BO-"

"_Not so fast!_" Gex's voice came from one of the hay barrels scattered over the grounds, and his sticky tongue shot out, stretched massively, and wrapped around the Scout's metal bat. The Scout's surprise, combined with his slight letting-go of the bat in his surprise, was no match for the sudden and very stick force exerted upon his precious weapon. The Heavy was closing in on Gex from behind, though, his meaty fists raised in preparation to squash Gex between them like the bugs the gecko loved to eat. Gex, sensing the ground pounding beneath and behind his feet, bent over backwards, letting the bat, still attached to his tongue, fly over his head, and backwards straight into the unaware face of the Heavy. It made a loud, satisfying "CLANGGGG" into his forehead, echoing out from his thick head. The Heavy stopped, the pain taking a few seconds to register. Gex's tongue, in the meantime, fell before retracting back into his mouth, Gex catching the bat in his paws and smirking back at the Heavy.

"Aww man! Now my baby's got your lizard-germs all over it!" the Scout whined, letting his arms and heart droop.

"Ow," the Heavy said, reaching a hand up to rub the growing lump in his forehead.

Gex dropped to the ground, motioning for Spyro to follow him as he turned and ran from both the Scout and Heavy. Spyro caught on, and limped briefly before running alongside Gex.

"I 'dought 'do worked alone?" Spyro asked, the one side of his snout now obviously broken. He snorted outward, and blood gushed out.

Gex made a face, but spotted another hay barrel and leapt behind it, Spyro following.

"Yeah, but I only play a jerk on TV, I swear." Gex grinned, then said under his breath, "And besides, I don't wanna face these guys alone. I'm used to working on enemies one-on-one."

The Scout, all the while, had motioned to the Pyro, who was steadily advancing on Cynder.

"Hey! Hey, Pyro! Throw me a weapon!" the Scout shouted, waving his hands.

The Pyro stared at him, and then looked around his feet, spotting a paintball gun not too far from his boot. He casually kicked it off the platform, and then charged after the black dragon, who was still trying to keep her distance and devise a plan.

The Scout ran over and picked the paintball gun up, and while he was slightly disappointed he only got a _paintball_ gun, he knew those were the rules, no matter what. Still, it was a pretty awesome paintball gun, so he figured he'd better make good use of it.

"Me too!" the Heavy shouted, motioning to the Pyro. The Pyro took one glance at him and instead shot another burst of flame down on the Heavy's face.

The Heavy wailed, clutching his scorched face, while the Scout laughed hysterically.

"Quit fightin' amongst yourselves!" the Soldier shouted from the other side of the glass, "Ya bunch 'a idiots!" Unfortunately, his voice, although loud, could barely be heard through or even over the glass.

The Scout grinned, and then charged after where he'd last seen the two opponents hide, trying to get used the feel of the not-a-real gun. The Heavy cursed in his native Russian, and then wiped off his face and charged after the Scout, giving the Pyro another dirty glare.

Cynder, being the more plan-oriented of her teammates, quickly thought of something and dived into the shadows, forming into a ball of flowing, smoke-like substances and rolling towards the Pyro. The Pyro, not understanding where the dragon had gone and why that black thing was coming towards her, paused momentarily, lost in confusion. As the ball of shadows moved quickly towards her, the Pyro finally realized what had happened and turned the flamethrower upon Cynder.

"Ahh!" Cynder yelped, feeling her scales burn. She leapt out the shadows, slicing wildly at the Pyro's ankles. Her distance and shock kept her from digging in too far into the rubber boots, and the Pyro laughed behind his mask, continuing to torch Cynder, who, seeing nowhere else to go, darted straight up, catching ahold on the Pyro's clothing with her long claws, and hissed, green, toxic goo seeping from her mouth.

The Pyro panicked, turing off the flamethrower and flailing, trying to get the tiny dragon away from him. She spat toxins into his face, and while they didn't do much in the way of melting his clothing or giving him some nasty disease, they did get all over his mask, and effectively blocked his view. Cynder struggled, and finally got loose and jumped back, shoving the Pyro off-balance. He stumbled, screaming obscenities behind his mask, and tried to find balance somewhere. Cynder held her breath, watching as his feet danced close to the edge...

...and then let it out, disappointed, as the Pyro stopped altogether, rubbing her mask with gloved hands. Cynder, seeing another opportunity, went back into the shadows and charged at the Pyro, coming up from under her feet to sweep her ankles. The Pyro had just wiped off enough of the toxins to see out of the corner of her eye, however, and lifted a foot to step forward just as Cynder swept the other one backwards. The movement caught the Pyro so off-guard, she wriggled, and then, with a horrible scream of pain, did the splits for the first time.

Cynder stumbled back, hearing the scream, and winced at the Pyro's terrible positioning. Watching him twitch and, at the moment, obviously feel unable to move without pain, made her feel pity for him despite his deteriorating mental health. Faster than a dragonfly, she darted her head forward and gently nudged him, pushing him sideways and out of the painful position. The Pyro moaned, still twitching in pain, slowly pulling his legs together to make the pain slowly fade. Cynder only stuck around until that moment, instead choosing to run to the opposite end of the platform, taking time to nurse her own wounds.

Spyro and Gex did not have the same luck as Cynder. While she was dancing with the Pyro, they had been cornered by the other two opponents who were slowly advancing upon them.

"They're getting within the last few feet," Gex said, all four paws on the ground, "Be prepared."

"'Dou're going 'do 'ave 'do 'dell me 'ow 'do do 'dat one day," Spyro whispered back painfully.

"Yeah, when you don't have to rely on eyesight or nose," Gex licked his eyes, and then jumped up, the bat still in hand, leaping onto the hay barrel just as the Scout jumped up too, Gex swinging it straight at the Scout's knees as the Scout tried to aim for Spyro again. The bat banged up against its former owner's skin, making him scream and fire paintballs everywhere as he went down flailing. Gex's position, unfortunately, left him wide open to the Heavy, who roared in triumph and brought both fists down towards Gex's head. Luckily, Gex was already out of the way of one, but one fist was more than enough to do enough damage. Gex felt his eyes bulge out his head, and then everything went black.

The Scout cursed, and tried to move his right leg, only to get searing pain and a very inactive result. Cursing again, and moved off the hay barrel and began to limp towards his bat, fallen from Gex's grasp. Once in his hands again, he ditched the paintball gun and began to wipe the now-sticky bat off in his hands, cooing to it.

"Daddy's nevah gunna leave you again, sweetie," he said, holding his hurt leg up and otherwise ignoring it for the sake of comforting an inanimate object.

"Team Spyro, your team member has one minute to get up before they are disqualified!" the announcer came over the intercom again, and, even from behind the glass, Sparx felt his antennae droop.

Spyro heard the Heavy cry out in triumph, and jumped out from behind the hay barrel, only to gasp at the sight before him. The Heavy was about to go and finish Gex, but he spotted Spyro and reached for the purple lizard instead.

"Come to Heavy," the Heavy said, grinning wide, "I will not harm you too much, big lizard."

"Led ged one 'ding sdraighd, 'uman!" Spyro spat angrily, feeling his mouth burning with what was to come forth from it, "I'm nod a lidard, _I'm a __DRAGON__!_"

He opened his mouth, long bolts of electricity flying out in every direction. Once out, they went straight for the closest heat source, zapping and frying the Heavy, who screamed in pain and, with the pure force of the amped electricity flowing from Spyro's mouth, stumbled backwards and fell straight onto his back, twitching from the voltage of several lighting strikes.

Spyro turned and lifted his head, forcing the flow of electricity to fly over Gex and aim straight for the Scout, who cried out as he watched what was to be inevitable pain come straight for him. As he was clutching his precious metal bat at the time, the attack went straight for that, coursing through him and into the ground, making him shake and scream until Spyro cut off his power, panting from the effort of the attack.

"Spyro!" Cynder called down from the platform, "Make sure Gex is okay!"

Spyro shook his head, letting the anger behind his attack flow out of him, and nodded up to Cynder. He ran to Gex's side, nudging his side gently before trying a bit harder.

"Gex, Gex!" Spyro said, and then shouted, seeing the Heavy stop twitching and moan loudly, "You have to get up!"

The gecko, however, was unresponsive. If anything, he felt even colder than normal. Getting desperate to both win and, even more so, not leave his leader in the midst of enemies, he moved back and stepped hard on Gex's tail.

Gex, who had until that point been in a very pleasant blackened sleep, felt pain surge through his system, and an instinct to get away from whatever was causing him such pain from his lower half.

Geckos, as any lizard-expert will tell you, have a very unique defense mechanism when it comes to escaping prey, most specifically involving their tails. After all, when it comes down to the fact you can't escape when your predators have got you by one external limb, it's better to evolve with genes that allow you to ditch the one thing that's holding you back.

And, as such, Gex being a true gecko, did the one thing his instincts told him too, since the pain was coming from the lower part of his tail and he could not move unless _something_ was done.

The first thing that registered in his mind, as he screamed and leapt forward, was the faint "pop" he heard from behind him, and then Spyro's cry of surprise. He only got a few feet before he got the odd feeling that something was missing.

He turned his head as best he could, tilting it to look behind himself, and let out a blood-curdling, glass-shattering, pure cry of distraught.

_The tip of his tail was gone!_ Gone! GONE!

As Gex would reflect later, it wasn't that bad; only the last few inches of his tail were gone. It wasn't like the _whole_ thing had come off, like some other unfortunate geckos he'd heard of. But, at the moment, it was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to him, besides his early fatherly abandonment. He'd worked _so hard_ _his_ _whole life_ to keep his tail intact, and now it...now...it would _never_ grow back right. Geckos were only fortunate enough to have their real colors once; the fallen limbs grew back an ugly grey color and never again matched the rest of the scales.

"You...you..." Gex felt the anger bubble towards the top, his paws clenched so hard he didn't know if he'd ever be able to unfurl them.

"I...I-I..." Spyro stammered, eyes wide with fright, though not of Gex's wrath; he thought for sure he'd practically just _killed_ the gecko. Tails should _not_ just...just _fall_ off like that!

"Ouch," the Heavy mumbled, rubbing his giant head. Gex turned, remembering the tournament, and then turned back to give Spyro a below-freezing glare, storming over to snatch the lost bit of tail, which was still twitching, up in his now-uncurled paws.

"I'll deal with _you_ later," Gex said, voice as icy as his glare.

"I-I didn'd know!" Spyro still looked genuinely worried, "You aren'd hurd, are you?"

"Only on the inside," Gex admitted slowly, watching the Heavy begin to rise, "My pride will take longer to recover than my tail. For now, let's take Mr.-Mountain-Range down while he's still shaking in his extra-large undies."

Spyro whipped around, trying to put the ordeal out of his mind for the moment to concentrate on the still-ensuing battle. Unfortunately, the Heavy heard them, and struggled to his feet.

"I will not be taken down so easily," he said calmly, although his limbs were still twitching, "I am strong and tenacious, like bull."

"Stop ripping off commercials. It just makes you more of a stereotype." Gex growled.

In the Heavy's confusion, Spyro leaned backwards, and then shot forward to charge the Heavy, head lowered more than normal to the ground. The Heavy grinned, trying to reach down to grab Spyro by the horns, but instead became the butt of them. Spyro grunted, and tilting his head, caught the corner of the Heavy's leg and thrust the large man skywards. He flew up to follow him, and just as the Heavy was beginning to fall, he flew over him and spun forwards, rolling himself into a ball of spikes and scales, grinding and driving the Heavy down. The Heavy yelled out in surprise and pain, and then hit the ground, wincing. Spyro unfurled himself, and started to fly back up, but the Heavy moved quickly for once, grabbing the dragon's tail in one sausage-like hand. He stood up shakily, stumbling while Spyro struggled, and then smiled nastily at his "prize."

"Now I got you," he said, pulling his other hand back into a fist.

Spyro panicked for once, and breathed in sharply, trying to think of what he could do to get out of this situation.

Gex, meanwhile, saw his companion's fate coming straight for the purple dragon, and shot forward, not knowing what he could do. Before he could think of anything that wouldn't simply irritate the Heavy, the Scout was up and swung the baseball bat straight down in front of Gex, who yelped and took several step backwards.

"We gotta score 'ta settle first, gecko!" the Scout snarled, picking his bat up and waving it in both hands. He was still limping form Gex's earlier attack, but he could still function.

Just as the Heavy was about to punch Spyro's face in, a blob of green, glowing goo flew straight at his face, and he only had time to register it was coming straight at him before it hit his face dead-on. He cried out, letting go of Spyro to reach up and wipe the goo off with both hands, its toxicity seeping into his skin.

Spyro pushed himself off the ground, glancing up at a still-fighting Cynder, who smiled at him before turning to face the Pyro once more. He smiled back, and moved to help Gex finish the Scout.

Gex jumped back as the bat struck the ground at his feet, and then pulled what was left of his tail between his feet as he came down, flinging himself up and away on his tail. Due to his sudden loss of the tip of his tail, however, he underestimated how much it would effect his tail-bounce, and he went flying and flipping backwards only a few feet away, crying out in surprise. He landed mostly on his chin, the rest of his belly and legs following.

The Scout grinned, advancing upon him, bat raised once more, but Gex shook himself off, and glanced around for something to do. Spotting something around or beyond the Scout, he smiled and raised his head, shooting his tongue out. The Scout, seeing it come straight for his precious bat again, dodged low and let the tongue fly out over his head.

He smirked at the gecko, ignoring the cry of surprise from behind him, and stated, "Fool me once..."

Spyro had only been trying to fly up from behind the Scout to attack him, but Gex had other plans for the dragon. Gex's tongue retracted, and he shot to his feet, spinning whatever he'd caught with his tongue around with him, swinging it up and over the hay barrel behind him, and then in front where the Scout had begun to stand, not understanding what the gecko was doing. He saw a flash of purple and pink, but that was all that registered in his brain before Gex's makeshift weapon hit him full on in the head, knocking him out with the force of a battering ram.

Gex let go of his teammate just as the dragon hit the Scout, sending Spyro tumbling straight into the line of fire from the Heavy.

…**::Meanwhile::...**

The Sniper, all the while, had quietly left the company of his fellow teammates and judges to follow through with the plan. He'd gotten as far away as he usually did, an impressive three miles, and had swiftly made his way to the top of a particularly tall building that sat facing the paintball grounds from a very great angle, placing himself in a strategic corner just as Gex swung the Spyro-bat.

He put Gex in his sights, breathing calmly as he put his finger on the trigger.

"You know, I enjoy sniping people as much as anybody else, buddy," a voice said behind him, causing the Sniper to curse loudly and swing his rifle around, pointing it straight at the strangely-dressed man.

"'u the 'ell'r you?" the Sniper spat, putting the barrel of his gun straight between the red-and-black-masked eyes.

"The Tooth Fairy!" the man replied happily, "Or, at least, I wish I could be. I'd have all that money...But I wouldn't give it to kids for some lousy teeth. That's just gross."

"...You jus' don't know Christmas from Bourke Street, do you?" the Sniper lowered his weapon arcing an eyebrow.

"I have no idea what you just said, but yes. Yes I don't," the man said, and then shrugged, "It doesn't matter anyway, I've got to take you back. You can't see the tournament very well from here."

"No, _look_ you nutjob," the Sniper said, sighing, "I've gotta job to do, and I don't think you should interfere. So jus' go back 'tah whatevah van you jumped out of an'-" Before he could finish, the masked man suddenly swept forward and grabbed him around the waist, picking him up like here were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

"I'll take that," the man said, plucking the Sniper's gun from his hands, despite the Sniper's wails of protest to everything going on right then and there. He then whistled happily, turning and walking towards to door to the roof, taking a very upset Sniper along with him.

…**::Metropolis Paintball Grounds::...**

Cynder was struggling with the Pyro. He was now even more relentless than before, and was torching the ground all around his feet, laughing maniacally behind his mask, chasing her all around the platform. She was quite sure she could run longer than him, but she didn't want to keep running until he was exhausted. Instead, she let the Pyro get close, and then flew up several feet, forcing herself backwards and over his head. Surprised, he turned slowly, but Cynder had already charged up another attack, this time letting out a scream, followed by waves of red, angry energy. The Pyro dropped his flamethrower to put both hands up to his ears, trying to block out the noise. The energy itself, however, is what made him suddenly feel very fearful, wanting only to run away as fast as possible right then and there. So, he turned and ran away, screaming in terror. Cynder smirked, and swiftly followed him.

Spyro was not having such luck yet. The Heavy cried out in another war cry, raising both fists to smash them into Spyro. Gex, quickly analyzing the situation, shot his tongue out again, this time latching onto the Heavy's face. The Heavy stopped, making a noise of protest, and instead put his hands to work to try and pull the wet, sticky appendage off. Gex pulled back, his plan to temporarily distract the man over, but he could not get it out of his large, strong hands. The Heavy, realizing he had a hold on a very important muscle for Gex, wrapped his hands around the tongue and pulled the weaker gecko forward and into a spin, reversing Gex's earlier weapon. The Heavy laughed at the irony. Or maybe he was just laughing to laugh.

Spyro shot up, quite literally, flapping his wings until he was above the Heavy's head, and then turned his head downwards and bashed his thick skull right into the Heavy's. The Heavy stumbled, letting Gex go mid-swing, causing the gecko to go flying into the fence on the other side of the grounds, feeling intense pain flood his slow system. Spyro only managed to roll off to the side, his vision going black. The Heavy wavered, turned around, and fell. The ground shook from the gargantuan weight, but the Heavy was definitely not getting back up; he was out, but so was Spyro.

Cynder only managed to catch the end of Spyro's valiant attack, and she stopped, seeing her best friend lying unconscious on the ground.

"Spyro!" she shouted, hoping he was okay. When he didn't respond, she knew she had to get down there fast. The Pyro had stopped running by this point, and was turning, angry now, to face her, the flamethrower belching a steady, low flame.

Cynder screamed again, sending the Pyro's mind back into witless terror, but she quickly halted that attack and flew back into the shadows, rolling towards her and under her feet. Cynder shot up from the shadows, her horns catching between the Pyro's legs and lifting her up into the air. Cynder dug her horns out, faster than a speeding dragonfly, and spun hard, slapping the Pyro down with her spinning body. The Pyro landed hard on the platform, moaning, just as Cynder, coming down from the attack, spun once more time and whacked the Pyro hard with her bladed tail. The Pyro screamed, flailing as the tail cut open her precious suit, but also felt the platform creak and moan beneath her.

The Pyro watched as Cynder leapt back, and then forward and up once more, hovering a few feet above the Pyro.

"You're done!" she hissed, darting her head forward to bash into the Pyro one more time. The Pyro was relatively unprepared, but still caught Cynder's upper horns just as the platform broke under his backside, flipping his legs through so he could easily hang on to Cynder's horns. Cynder yelped, landing and digging all four sets of paws into what was left of the platform to hold herself up. The Pyro was much heavier than her, and had gravity on his side, so Cynder was beginning to feel this was going to go exactly as he planned. The Pyro reached up, grabbing on to the other side of the hole in the platform, still pulling Cynder down.

"Mmmph mph mphm!" she spat.

"Yeah, well," Cynder grunted, teeth grinding, "Same to you!"

That said, she sucked in a sharp breath, and with the last bit of her mana, spat out another short few waves of her red Fear-breath. The Pyro, caught off-guard, screamed again, and let go of both Cynder and the platform, opting to put his hands to his head again, trying to block out the pulses of fear in him. He landed hard, and crumpled into a ball, beginning to rock back and forth, trying to dilute the fear still coursing through him.

Cynder backed up, panting, and turned to fly down to Spyro's side.

Gex cried out, "No, wait!" from the side, getting up slowly and looking expectantly up at the floating intercom. Cynder stopped, following his gaze.

"With both opponents on the ground knocked out, and the member on the platform down, Team Spyro wins!"

The Scout, just now coming out of his nap-time, moaned and tried to stand. Hearing the tail end of the announcement, he shot up to stand on his one good leg, shouting, "No! Wait! I'm up! Lemmie finish them!"

"Too late!" the announcer spat, "And besides, we found one of your members trying to cheat, so...you're outta here!"

Gex smirked, and then rubbed his mouth, still feeling the pain of the Heavy's fists and being swung around all over it. Cynder jumped down, hovering over to Spyro's side. Sparx, knowing the fight was over, flew through the top of the arena and down to his friend's side.

"Hey, you, little purple dragon," Sparx said softly, putting his hands on the side of Spyro's head, "Time to wake uuup, we got fresh sheep for breakfaaast~!"

Cynder nudged Spyro's side, gently coaxing him to come to consciousness, "Spyro, please, get up."

Spyro, finally hearing his friends voices through the fog of his mind, moaned in pain and tried to open his eyes. Searing pain shot through his head, so he opted to keep them closed.

"Hey, he's alive! Again," Sparx said, grinning wide.

"Are you okay, Spyro?" Cynder asked quietly as Gex walked over.

"Mmmph..." Spyro mumbled, "I...I dink so...head hurds..."

"That was pretty brave, if stupid, of you," Gex said, crossing his paws, "But, I guess I owe you for it."

Spyro smiled weakly.

"Help me carry him out. We should find a place to rest up before the next round," Cynder said to Gex.

He nodded, wincing as pain went through his own head, and leaned down to pick up Spyro's upper torso.

"Can carry myself oud..." the purple dragon grumbled.

"Uh-huh," Gex said, "Whatever you say; just as long as you're ready for the next set of opponents."

…**::Team RED Base, several minutes later::...**

"I can't believe we lost!" the Soldier shouted, waving his hands and pacing, "To...to a bunch of overgrown _lizards!_"

The Sniper growled, "Oh, quit whinin'. At least you didn't 'ave to deal with a flirty nutjob."

"We aren't leaving just yet," the Spy said casually from the corner of their base.

"Indeed," the Medic said, crossing his arms, "I sink it's time ve start plotting to get back in zee tournament. Our sponsors vill not take zis news vell."

"Once the lumbering idiot recovers," the Engineer pointed over to the Soldier, "Let's go..._talk_ with some of the judges."

"I agree," The Scout's voice came from the dark deep within the portable base, his bat hitting the palm of his left hand, "I want _revenge_."

END ROUND ONE

INSERT JUDGE'S APPROVAL TO CONTINUE

I really liked my opponent's entry, but I decided to go down a different road. As I was doing research, trying to pick out who would be best for this round, I realized the majority of the TF2 people weren't meant for up-close combat. Yes, there's the Offensive three, and the Heavy, but everybody else either doesn't use weapons well or, as alluded to in their profile, "prefers to not be on the front line." I also didn't want to use the Soldier (although he would have been fun!), because he's just a wee bit too crazy for me to try and get a handle on. I really, really wanted to have the Pyro and Sparx on the boards above the ground, and have Sparx piss the Pyro off so much he burnt the boards down, but I figured that would be risky, especially since the odds were so much _not_ in Sparx's favor. XD But, you know, I still had fun with it.

And I can't imagine any of Team RED's members surrendering. It's just not their style. Also, I figure that if one of them did surrender, the rest of the team would have their ass for dinner. Better to go down fighting than step down a wuss.

Oh, and avvie said they were only allowed what they had on them when they came in. I figure that, given the sudden approach by the people who hired them into this tournament, they wouldn't have much in the way of guns/ammo/weapons in general, but I decided to give them at least a few things (I doubt the Scout would go anywhere without his trusty bat, the Spy without his knife, the Pyro without his flamethrower...basic items like that). I like Scout's BONK attack. It's fun. Too bad he didn't get to use it. :(

And, uh, sorry for the super-long beginning. I was going to make it and intermission, but then I figured that nobody would read it and you wouldn't understand anything in the first round.

koalanet(dot)com(dot)au(forwardslash)australian-slang(dot)html -Site I used for the Sniper's lingo.

I also know none of members are very...plan-wise, but, well, it seemed to me that the Engineer is one of the smartest guys on the team, and would probably take the time to think things out very carefully. After all, it's a part of his occupation.

And somehow, the idea of the Medic saying "Holy Hitler!" is a lot more amusing than it should be. XD

I assure you, the confused-gender-pronoun issue of the Pyro was intentional. LOL. I still think he's a woman.

"I'm nod a lidard, _I'm a __DRAGON__!_" ← Favorite line. Ever. The idea of Spyro talking to bad-assed, even with a broken snout, is too awesome for me for describe here.

I am dead serious. Spyro lifts shit up with his head like a _boss_. Watch any video from Dawn of the Dragon with Cynder and him fighting giant trolls in it, and you will see the awesome unfurl at some point in the video. Can't remember the name of the move itself, but it's so cool. It defies all laws of physics.

Yeaaah, this was getting to be about twenty pages, so I decided to cut it off instead of adding a whole bunch of other stuff. Also, running out of time. I'm really sorry. I won't be a lazy bum next round, I promise. If I make it. I dunno. My opponent (LordGambit) was really awesome too. I shall review it properly tomorrow, hopefully.

Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder belong to Seirra.

Team RED belong to Machi...Mach...NOT ME OKAY.

Gex and the Agent is owned by Crystal Dynamics, etc.


	3. The One Ring That Pierces the Heavens!

_The One Ring That Pierces the Heavens!_

**Round Two: A Winn3r is You!**

_Vs. Team Dai-Gurren from Team Dai-Gurren Lagann_

"What do you mean, we have to 'win the game?'" Gex stared impatiently at the TV screen in the window, tapping his feet.

"It's as simple as that," the Agent said, shrugging, "You play a game of Risk, you beat the other person, and you win."

"I hate Risk," Gex mumbled, moving to turn the TV off.

"Hey, at least we didn't make you play Monopoly-" the Agent started, but was cut off.

Gex turned and walked the few feet back to his three companions, watching as Spyro continued rubbing his head. The poor purple dragon still had a massive migraine from his personal encounter with the previous enemy's head.

"You going alright there, Spyro?" Gex, since the last round, had started trying to lose his bias against dragons, especially since it seemed they were going to be in this a while. He was still peeved about his tail, but he knew, deep down, if he took revenge now, things would go downhill in the tournament for them quickly. Not that he was planning equal revenge, but he still wanted some kind of satisfaction for the stupid dragon's mistake.

"Yeah, I- I'm okay," Spyro shook his head gingerly, still wincing when even the slightest move caused a spurt of pain to go through his head. Since their round, the team had gone off to the sidelines to watch the other teams, and rest to regain their energy. There'd been another call from the Agency, this time from a TV store directly behind them (Metropolis seemed to love the "television", Spyro and Cynder noticed), which Gex had responded to.

"Don't worry, this round's not going to involve fighting," Gex stated, waiting for their reactions. As expected, all three looked up at him in surprise.

"No fighting?" Cynder's black brows came together in her confusion.

"Yay!" Sparx said happily, raising his arms, and then lowered them, baffled, "Wait, yeah, what?"

"Nope; this time, we play a game," Gex sat down, making sure his now-bandaged tail slipped behind him, "You have games back on your planet? You know, like Chess, or, or, Checkers; stuff like that?"

He got blank stares in response.

"I don't know about 'Chess,'" Cynder said cautiously, giving Spyro and Sparx a worried glance, but we do play 'Chase the Sheep' and 'How Fast Can You-"

"Okay, so no board games? Great," Gex interrupted, "Yet another explanation is inevitable, I suppose...So the game we're playing is a really old game, for here anyway, called 'Risk.' It's a war game-" he glanced between his three teammates, "You have your little fake armies, and you move them around the board, taking turns, until you take over the entire continent. You guys have something like that back on your planet?"

"Yes," Sparx said, "But it's never been any sort of game, I'd say..."

Gex sighed. "Of course," He saw his companions' downtrodden expressions, and attempted a smile, "It's okay. It's just a game."

There was a short silence that followed.

"Nevermind," Gex shrugged one shoulder and licked his eyes, glancing between Spyro and Cynder, "Now then, have either of you led an army?"

"And what," Sparx grumbled, "You assume _I _didn't?"

…**::Metropolis International Convention Center::...**

The convention center was _ packed_. There was no denying it; even people who weren't in the tournament had shown up, enthusiastic after the previous round. The gangs of Metropolis had decided to start rooting for teams on their own, betting on wins or losses for or against other teams. This eventually resulted in several fist fights, gun wounds, and many knife stabbings in backalleys later, but for now they were enjoying the thrill of watching the teams play thrilling games like Monopoly.

"Nah, sucka, he gunna go fo' 'de 'lectric comp'ny!" one thug told the other thug next to him, observing the intense game between Spongebob, Sam, Zim, and GIR.

"Noooo way, man!" the other thug said, waving his hands, "I seen 'dis played befo'. He-" he motioned to Zim, "Gunna go fo' 'de Railroad. 'Den, he own all four 'a 'dem!"

"Ahh, I see, ya foo'!" the first thug nodded, and the slapped his palm into the other thug's open one. The four opponents choicefully ignored them.

As Gex and his teammates made their way through the crowd towards their table, their opponents were already waiting, the game and several sets of cards set out and rules displayed on a decently-sized rectangular table, of which the board game itself took up nearly all of. One of the judges, a geeky-lloking teenage boy with a face like the wrong side of Venus, stood at the side, waiting patiently for all members to show up.

Simon and Kamina were sitting at the table itself, while Boota, Viral, and Yoko had pulled up chairs to sit beside them. Kamina still had bandages from the previous round, but he was functioning as...however normally he could stand.

"Don't worry, bro!" he slapped Simon on the shoulder, causing the younger boy to yelp and jump slightly, "We're just gunna beat these guys, and then we'll move on like there's no yesterday!"

"I-I don't know, Kamina," Simon said slowly, watching "Team Spyro" advance up to the table, "I saw how they fought those crazy people in the last round, they seem to be pretty good at the whole strategizing thing..."

"Peh! They're a bunch of lizards; what could they know?" Viral spat thorugh his sharpened teeth.

Gex and his troupe pulled up chairs, and he and Cynder helped Spyro up into one before getting up, a bit awkwardly due to their unique physiques, into their own. Sparx buzzed around a few times before settling into a spot near Spyro's head.

"Laright, is everybody here?" the judge asked, boredom evident. When there was no response for a full second, he continued, "Okay, here's the rules..."

"Wait," Gex demanded, looking over the board, "What is this, Lord of the Rings?"

"Yeah, it was the only version we had left," the judge said, shrugging.

Gex mumbled "Nerds" under his breath while the judge continued.

…**::Five Minutes Later::...**

"I pick gold, because gold is the color of awesome!" Kamina proclaimed, holding up a gold-colored, plastic piece shaped like an eagle.

"Green's pretty cool," Simon said, picking up a green piece roughly shaped like a person with a bow.

"Wait, why are we the bad guys?" Sparx asked, flying down to pick up and observe the crudely-shaped, black horseman in his tiny hands.

"Because they got here before us," Gex answered, plucking the piece from his hands and giving it back to Cynder, who looked about as happy as a rich child getting a pair of white socks for Christmas.

"Oh," Cynder mumbled, "Joy."

"Since you're each only allowed 45 battalions for now, we're going to allow you to pick out however many of each you want. But, what I'd recommend," the judge picked up the human-shaped piece, "Is 20 of these guys, five of the horsemen, and two of the bigger dudes for now. But that's just me," he held up his hands, "You guys can pick whatever you want."

Everybody, of course, went with his suggestion. After all, he was a judge. Surely he would know better than any of them.

The judge also held up a small shield-shaped one, "Don't forget about these dudes! They're gunna be really helpful," and everyone followed his order.

As the judge then handed out the territory cards, Gex had to be careful not to let them get stuck to his paws. He spread them out carefully in front of him, and then made a face.

"'Lo-ree-in?' 'Anfalas?' Who came us with this crazy names, anyway?" Yoko asked before anybody else could.

"Hey! Don't dis Tolkien, man!" one observer hsouted. Now that news had spread the teams were playing the Lord of the Rings: Trilogy Edition, which, granted, had not been well-received, they had attracted a rather large crowd.

As the played struggled to find their territories and place their pieces down in order to actually start the game, Simon, Kamina, and Gex, none of them being war-strategists, began to place their pieces randomly. Cynder, being the only one in the playing group that had ever been involved in war (and not just from her darker days), was careful to select specific areas to place her pieces, choosing instead to have the close-together territories more well-defended than the out-lying ones.

"Ooh, can I keep this?" Kamina asked, picking up the model of the One Ring, which had been put previously in the Shire area his battalions now occupied.

"No, that's there for another purpose," Kamina looked put-out, but did not protest, "Now before you guys start putting your pieces everywhere," the judge eyed all of the players carefully, "You have to take turns on who claims the other territories, got it? You," he pointed to Kamina, who was done first, "You pick an unclaimed territory."

Kamina beamed, and pointed towards the part labeled 'Lune Valley.'

"Okay, put a piece on it, then."

He did, and Cynder turned to Gex, seeing his sporadic placement of his pieces, and whispered behind a held-up paw, "You might want to think ahead about what your opponents might throw at you! Be sure to send adequate defenses to the outer areas, but you also need to be sure your clustered territories are strong too!"

Gex turned, surprised, and whispered back, "Are oyu sure?"

"Yes!"

"Alright," he held up his paws, and began to move his pieces around more strategically.

She quickly added, while Simon struggled with where to put his piece, "We should also try and get areas that are right next to each other, so we can back each other up, got it?" Gex nodded.

"Look, bro!" Kamina said, grabbing Simon around both shoulders and pointing towards the area faintly labeled 'Gondor,' "We're right next to each other! We gotta stick up for each other, just like in battles, and reach out to conquer all the other lands with our brotherly love!"

Viral made a sickened face.

"That's good! I think," Simon said eagerly. Just then, he noticed one entire side of the board was quickly filling up with red and black pieces, and he, although being younger than his traveling companions (save for, what he thought anyway, Boota), began to realize his opponent's strategies and began to purposely pick out lands that were closer to his own and his brother's. The judge went around the table, letting each of the players pick an empty territory until they were all filled up; Cynder, being the last to go, was a little put off when she realized she'd receive one less territory than everybody else.

They then each rolled the dice, and Gex, much to his surprise (after vigorously shaking his paw to get the die to actually come off his paw), scored a six, signifying he was the first to go.

"Okay," he mumbled, feeling everyone's eyes on him as he carefully counted the number of territories he held, divided that by three, and then picked out several extra battalions to put into his territories. He glanced at Cynder as he put the pieces down, and seeing her curt nod of approval, followed through.

"Now you can choose to combat or not-" the teenage judge said.

"Sure," Gex said quickly, picking up a foot soldier piece and placing into an adjacent spot occupied by one of Kamina's pieces. Kamina grinned.

"So, you dare to challenge the brotherhood? I say," Kamina slammed his fist on the table, causing it to shake, "I accept your challenge!"

Everyone stared at him, but Kamina didn't notice. Gex, having a horseman which represented three battalions, put that in the "Attacker/Defender" part of the board, and withdrew the three red die. Kamina, having only one battalion in the territory, put the little replica down in the same spot and picked out one black die.

"Only one? But that's hardly worth a fight!" Kamina observed sadly.

"Quite complaining. Gex might roll three ones," the judge rolled his eyes.

Gex swallowed hard. He could. Thus, he was careful when he put them in his palm, as to not make them stick this time, shook them, and thrust them onto the table.

"Four, four, and three," the judge read, and then glanced at Kamina, who rolled his dice quickly, "Three. Good job, you've won," the judge declared, much to Gex's and Cynder's delight. Kamina's smile dropped, and he withdrew, handing the dice back over to the judge. Almost immediately, however, the smile was back and he was proclaiming about how he was going to quickly recuperate and conquer everyone with Simon by his side.

…**::Thirty Minutes Later::...**

The game was getting intense now; the One Ring had moved all the way down the board and was quickly advancing towards Gondor, which, as the players had been informed, meant the game was going to come to an end soon. Knwoing this, the competition began to get fierce. Kamina threw the dice so hard into the table they bounced off and whacked out an observer's eye. Cynder and Simon began to get competitive; he'd nearly conquered Rohan, and then she'd invaded half before he won it back, and then, using the ships, she'd conquered nearly half of it again. Gex had tried in invade Rohan three times and had failed each time. Kamina, however, had won Rhun and was slowly worming his way into Rhovanion, much to Gex and Cynder's annoyance.

"Don't worry brother!" Kamina said, placing another horseman into a spot connected to Cynder's chunk of Rohan, "I will come to your defense!"

Cynder grimaced. Due to the thinning of her troops over such a space, she'd been left with only a horseman and a footsoldier in the space Kamina was eyeing, while he was stacked with a horseman and four footsoldiers. That didn't mean much when it depended on a roll of the dice and a tie meant the defender won (as Gex had been the unfortunate reciever of many times now), but it still looked intimidating.

Sure enough, they rolled, and Cynder won one; Kamina one another. Scowling, Kamina tried to invade again, this time only to lose two more soldiers. The next invasion, Cynder won once, and Kamina won the next roll. He huffed, and then went after another country Cynder was occupying deep in Arnor, and with four more rolls of the dice, lost and was forced to retreat for the sake of keeping his own territory.

Simon slammed one of his adventure cards down, looking determined, "With this, I can receive an extra two battalions in Arnor!" He picked up two more footsoldiers, counted his territories, and picked out another horseman and footsoldier, placing them in areas he was sure he was going to need them. With a quick roll of the die, he won over one of Cynder's ship ports, and then exploited one of his other ports, in Gondor, to move more pieces into the port Cynder had claimed in Rohan. When he lost both rolls and was left with one horseman, however, he opted to change tactics and invade from land.

With more of the "win-one-lose-one" rolls and his massive numbers, he quickly took back another territory. He then tried to invade her spot in Arnor, but, much to everyone's surprise, he lost. Grumbling, he moved a few pieces around, signifying the end of his turn, and then rolled the die to see if the One Ring would advance towards Mount Doom any more.

(They had, over the course of the game, been slowly conforming to the geeks' ways around them, and had learned to correctly pronounce each country and major place's names, along with their significance in the acclaimed books.)

Right after Simon rolled a six, meaning the One Ring was to move on, Gex threw up a paw, Advneture Card in hand, and spat, "Not so fast! I play," he glanced at the title, "Boromir tries to seize the One Ring! That means the ring," he motioned to the said piece of jewelery, "Stays here."

"Oooo!" the fanboys said unanimously.

"Boromir was such a dick," one of them said.

"Dude, whatchu talkin' 'bout?" the thug from earlier growled, "He was 'de coolest!"

The other thug turned and gave his friend a funny look. The first thug looked embarrassed.

"'Dose movies were cool, okay? And besides," he nodded, grinning smugly, "'Dey had some pretty hot chicks in 'dem, amirite?" A cry of general agreement went up from the crowd.

After some thought, Gex placed his five new battalions into a territory bordering Rohan, and another one into one his places in Arnor. Instead of going for Rohan, though, he went for the single territory Kamina held in Rhovanion. He promptly lost, much to Kamina's delight.

Gex scowled, and went for one of Simon's territories in Arnor. Much to his and Cynder's delight, he won on the first try and quickly took it with one of his horsemen. Feeling confident, he attempted to invade Simon's only other territory, and Simon and his team held their breath.

The let it out when, even after two attempts, Gex lost and had to retreat with a grumble.

Cynder played her final Adventure Card, an extra two battalions in Arnor, and tried to think about her choices.

'_If I place more battalions in my place in Mirkwood,_' she htought, '_I could invade Kamina's linking territory from both sides, preventing any further attacks of his on my territories in Rohan!_'

After three separate rolls, she was reconsidering her options, having lost all attempted invasions. So, instead, she went after more territory in Rohan again, grinning as she quickly won back the territory Simon had taken not one round ago. Feeling confident again, she went after the territory Kamina held she'd tried to take over several seconds ago, this time using her place in Arnor.

The first roll was two-on-two- A tie, which meant she lost, and then she won. It was down to one of Kamina's soldier's and three of hers. Everybody leaned in, intent on seeing what happened. Sparx flew over the sea of heads to get an above-ground view.

Second roll was one on one. Cynder huffed, and then rolled as Kamina did. Another tie, and the crowd breathed out heavily. Kamina grinned widely.

"You see? We are the team that will win, because we have the drill that will pierce the heavens!" he thrust his fist into the air, and then beamed across to Simon, "Right, bro?"

"Y-yeah," Simon said sheepishly, and then grew determined, "Yeah! That's right! We're team Dai-Gurren!"

"One more try," Cynder said calmly, shaking the dice in her clawed paw.

Kamina huffed, and then picked up his own dice. They both chucked them onto the remaining inches of the table, and watched as the die settled.

Four to two; Cynder had won.

Sparx and Spyro cheered, and Gex even smiled as she eagerly took Kamina's territory. Kamina was still beaming, though, and he nodded before saying, "A good match indeed! But," his look turned mischievous, "I will take back what it rightfully team Dai-Gurren's!" He held up one of his Advneture Cards, reading 'Captured By Orcs!', "Subtract one from the die roll for the One Ring!"

Cynder rolled the die calmly, still feeling the euphoria of winning her last invasion. A five; the One Ring moved on.

After putting in more battalions, Kamina hurriedly took back the territory Cynder had just taken, and then moved on to conquer he Brownlands. With a huge grin, he also took the back territory of Rhun Hills. He leant back in his chair, causally ending his turn by rolling for the One Ring to move on, whilst Cynder and Gex stared agape at their loss. His hand rolled a three, and the One Ring stayed in Gorgoroth.

Simon put more pieces down on the board, and then tried to get back Cynder's territories, but failed, and with a sigh, finally gave up on conquering all of Rohan. Instead, he tried to help Kamina invade Rhovanion, of which he failed at. He rolled on die, indicating he was done, and opted for the game to finally move on. Once again, however, the dice landed on three, and the One Ring was stuck in Gorgoroth once more.

As Gex placed hs new battalions in his territories in Arnor, Kamina and Simon braced themselves for the inevitable invasion. He quickly took over Simon's remaining Andorian territory, but failed in all respects to get any of Kamina's. Kamina and Simon breathed a sigh of relief as Gex grumbled, and then rolled a five for the One Ring to move on.

Everyone felt their hearts pound inside their chest; this was the final round. This would be the ultimate deciding factor. Even Viral, for all his antisocial tendencies, was leaning in over Simon's shoulder to get a better look at the intense game. Epic music began to blast over the stereo system in accordance with the game. Even babies stopped their crying to watch the game.

Cynder gained her extra pieces, and then moved in to take one of Simon's remaining Rohan territories. Next, she concentrated on taking back the Brownlands, which, after another few close rolls, she took with ease. Rhun Hills was not taken back, much to her chagrin, but she knew she'd wind herself into a corner if she tried to continue, and then didn't roll a number higher than three for the end of this turn. Instead, breathing hard, she picked up one die and cast it.

Everything moved in slow motion, and everybody's eyes followed the die hesitantly, hoping, fearing, the game was finally over.

The die toppled, tumbled, spun, and finally, after a full minute of slow-motion, landed on a six.

Just then, the One Ring moved of its own accord towards Mount Doom. As the One Ring moved towards Mount Doom, the entire Convention Center began to shake. All the cards and plastic battalions from the game began to fly around in the air, creating a hurricane of game pieces, with the One Ring in the eye. Voices, varying from shouting harsh whispers, began to pour from the center of the ring, along with the pounding and whinnying of horses. The entire room seemed to be spinning and joining in, and Sparx was the first to scream, everybody else quickly following suit.

A child, or possibly an old man; it was hard to tell in all that makeup and suit, if it was makeup and a suit; jumepd out from the crowd, crying, "Precioussss!" and latched onto the One Ring. The hurricane grew in its intensity, and then, with a giant, nasty sucking sound, the entire game evaporated into thin air, taking the One Ring and the creature-thing with it.

"Wow," the judge said, most of his hair on one side of his head now, "That was weird."

There was a long period of silence, before two men in black suits came along.

"We're sorry you had to see that," one of them, the older one, said apologetically, "There was one of the games they made that accidentally had the One, True Ring in it, and we tracked it down to here. Looks like you sent it packing back to Middler Earth, though. Good job." he gave the group a thumbs-up, and then he and his compatriot turned and walked off as calmly as they had come in.

"But," Spyro started, still feeling dizzy, "What about that man?"

"Don't worry about him," the agent called back over his shoulder, "He'll be fine."

"Well, uh, who wants to win?" the judge asked.

Although everybody else was too scrambled to understand what the judge had just said, Simon slowly raised his hand, feeling his brain start to unwind.

"Okay, victory goes to team Dai-Gurren! I'm going home." the judge said flatly, taking off his "Judge!" hat and sulking off.

Cynder shook herself, "Wait, what?"

"Nevermind!" Gex said, his brain finally starting to work, "Let's just be glad it just wasn't Jumanji."

Everybody got the reference (save for the rest of the teams themselves), and they nodded, finally snapping out of it.

As the teams shook hands/paws, easing out of the competitive mode, the one thug turned to his companion.

"Hey," he said, "How can we be sure 'dat game didn't got no connection to 'de real Middle Eard'?"

"I dunno man," the other thug said, shrugging, "We may nevah know..."

…**::Meanwhile, thousands of worlds away, Middle Earth::...**

Aragorn cursed under his breath. Ever since the Orcs had invaded, well, pretty much all of Rohan and Rhovanion, even with the back-and-forth conquering, they'd been forced to hide in Gondor for some time now. The far-and-few-between news they received from Arnor and Mirkwood was not pleasant, either.

Not only that, but Gandalf seemed to be worried and confused at the same time, seeing as to how we was constantly pacing the floor of the room they were staying in.

Gimli, growing ever impatient with Gandalf's pacing, spat out, "What is it, Gandalf! For days, you've been pacing like this, and it's enough to drive a mad dwarf, well, even madder!"

Gandalf paused, brow still furrowed in confusion, "It feels as if...something's wrong with Frodo and Sam. I can't quite explain it."

"What?" Legolas asked, getting up from his corner of the room, "What could possibly go wrong?"

…**::Hundreds of Miles Away, in The Shire::..**

Sam and Frodo looked around This Shire, laying back in the grass, enjoying the sun.

"Do you think, Mr. Frodo, we should have told them?" Sam asked, glancing at his friend.

"What, about the whole selling-it-to-the-man-in-the-cape thing?" Frodo asked, pursing his lips.

"Well, yeah."

Frodo considered it.

"Nah. Let them find out."

END ROUND TWO

Um, I wanted to play Risk, and up the stakes a little, but...I only have the Lord of the Rings: Trilogy edition, and it's the only version I've ever played, and thus the only one I have to take reference from. I loved doing a "you're all nerds" joke, but it paled in comparison to the idea of Gex getting the pieces stuck to his paws. As such, I had to drag it out and play it with myself to actually write anything down. XD And Monopoly is the most boring game ever. I don't believe I've ever finished a game of it. I think discouraging actual monopoly was the original intention of the game.

And I'm truly sorry, An Ordinary Fan. The past few weeks have been some of the most mentally and physically exhausting ones in my life so far. Hopefully, though, it's all over, and I can find myself and my inspiration again within the next week or so. So, yes, I know I probably got the Gurren characters completely and utterly wrong (which is horrible, because I'm really starting to like the show), but I literally had about one day to do research before I was forced to start this.

I also didn't do descriptions of the Gurren charies because I didn't have enough time. Yes, I'm willing to take the fall for this round in points because I'm too exhausted to care anymore. My brain wants to die right now.

This game relied on the theory that Cynder and Simon are secretly total badass strategists, and while Kamina and Gex aren't stupid, they just don't...take the game as seriously in "war terms" as Cynder and Simon would.

*And yes, I made a reference to E35O's entry, which was awesome and I will review it. I swear I will review everyone's! Maybe. When my brain begins working again.

And it's seriously impossible _not_ to get into this version of the game, especially with LOTR fanboys/girls around. Far too much nerdiness. Far, far, far too much.

I was pretty sure the Defending dice were loaded. They always seemed to land in a tie (which means the Defending side won), or were higher than the Attacking die. WTF.

And I thought I'd try a Jumanji/Zathura ending. COOL, AMIRITE? I blame their geekiness on the One Ring possessing them...preciousssss...Oh, and OpenOffice's Spell Check doesn't have a problem with the LOTR's character's names. You're all nerdssss...


End file.
